Music jukeboxes are well known. Jukeboxes are often found in diners, bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, and other similar type establishments. Up until the early 1980's two-sided 7" vinyl records (45's) were the predominant format in use on jukeboxes. The artist name and "A" side, "B" side song titles were commonly displayed on a small rectangular piece of stock paper, approximately one inch high by three inches wide, placed in a display tray on the front of the jukebox to facilitate the selection of a desired record for playing. The stock paper display product was commonly referred to as a "title strip".
Several companies produce such title strips, which are sold primarily to the coin-operated amusement industry. The companies typically supply title strips for an accepted fee to "one-stop" record suppliers. The one-stop suppliers then sell 45's along with the accompanying title strip to jukebox operators, such as Lansdale Amusement Co. of Lansdale, Pa.
In the 1980's, CD jukeboxes began to replace 45 type jukeboxes. Not only is the fidelity of a CD jukebox much better than on the older, 45 type jukebox, but also many more songs are available on a CD jukebox. For instance, assuming there are ten songs per CD and a CD jukebox has a sixty disc changer, then six hundred songs are available for selection by a user. A typical CD jukebox patron scans across the various CD titles to find a particular artist or song. The selection process then involves two steps First, the actual CD number in relation to all other CD's on the jukebox (01 through 99) is selected, and then the actual number of the desired song within a particular collection of titles (usually 01 through 12) is selected. In contrast, in a 45 jukebox, a user selected a song by selecting a number corresponding to the desired song (e.g., A13 or B13).
In order to allow a user to locate a favorite song, it is advantageous to display a CD cover or jacket, which includes artwork which is often instantly recognizable by the user. The back of the CD jacket or an inner sleeve of the CD normally contains one page or an area having a numerical listing of all song titles, in the order in which the songs are recorded on the corresponding disc. The jacket or inner sleeve can thus also be placed within the jukebox to provide the individual song and number information related to that CD.
Unfortunately, there are flaws with this method of displaying the available CD's and their corresponding song titles. The graphics from CD to CD are not consistent in content, size, or readability. Moreover, some CD's have no song title information listed anywhere. Even further, some CDs have identifying artwork printed directly on the jewel box which holds the CD or on the disc itself, and do not include or provide a traditional cover. For example, the release by the band Pink Floyd called "Pulse" is a double CD live set having very deluxe packaging, but no traditional cover or jacket. The CD's themselves are contained in an inner sleeve, which is encased in a hard bound folder on which the artwork is printed. The title strips for the Pink Floyd Pulse release provided by the one-stop suppliers comprise a plain white "cover" on which only Pink Floyd and Pulse are printed in simple text and the song title listing is provided on a separate title strip. This "cover" is a pale imitation of the exciting original.
The CD jukebox manufacturers, such as Seeburg, NSM, Rowe/AMI, Wurlitzer, Rock-Ola and Pioneer, offer various alternatives of artist/song title display methods. Some jukeboxes use the CD graphic art in conjunction with a separate artist/song title display piece (i.e., a title strip). Others use a title strip and discard the CD graphics art entirely However, unlike the 45 title strip, the CD title strip lists more than just a single song title. In addition to the artist name and the name of the recording, the CD title strip has to list all of the songs on the CD in numerical order. Accordingly, the physical size of the strip, as compared to the 45 title strip, is much larger.
Yet another problem is that a CD jukebox operator or routeman must install two separate pieces of paper for each CD (i.e., both the CD jacket and the separate song track listing or title strip) in a jukebox display tray, which takes extra time and effort.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a single means for displaying information to a user which allows the user to quickly, if not immediately identify Cds and their corresponding song tracks. It would also be advantageous to provide a title strip which is uniform in size and may be easily installed in a CD jukebox display tray.